By Victoria Ekwughe
No man is an Island to himself…………John Donne
I can’t remember when I had so much fun as on the day I celebrated my graduation, the joy of seeing my friend, that also doubles as my family here (Newcastle) was overwhelming, and for the first time I had to cook a meal that will cater to over 25 people. Literally I couldn’t do that alone, so I had help from friends, who went out of their way to assist me despite their busy schedule.
Their helping me reminded me of the words of an honorary doctoral awardee who said that university life is more about the relationships you make and keep, and with such relationships you learn more; and I couldn’t agree more with him.
Just having my friends around made my day, and I must confess I have learnt a lot from them, most especially how to deal with individual with various temperament. Their values and beliefs, and most importantly transfer of academic knowledge.
In addition to that, I learnt to relate with people above me academically. Making such relationships helped me tremendously in my academic work, as the friends I made assisted me with my course work and any other academic work I had, and I must say it did me a whole world of good. I could remember my fear when I came into the UK and everything seemed strange including the academic writing style and referencing, and I was so confused I did not know what to do. I felt like crying because I hate being helpless. I am not saying I am not good at writing no, as a matter of hobby I enjoy writing to the core. But I write more as a journalist, having a journalistic background.
I remember having a good laugh when I took my first course work to a PhD student and after reading my piece he said, this would be a good piece if you are writing for a media outfit, but for an academic work, it is a piece of crap. I felt bad, but he helped me put it right. And I realized the more I took my work to my research friends, the more I improved my writing skills and I became more confidence in myself.
Relationships are important and Northumbria University ensured I wasn’t left on my own with the fast friend buddy thingy which enabled meet friends quite easily and I was able to blend into the academic environment quickly. The international day was great also as we were able to meet a lot of International student and try out a lot of intercontinental dishes.
Just reminiscing, I could not imagine what my University life would have been without the friends I made.
